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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

If you are at all emotional right come back and read later. This one is really hard for me to post. I have never lost a child. I don't know anything close to that pain. But I do know the love I have for each of my children and just the thought of losing one of them is too much. This is such a sweet and special quilt from Liz of teeny tiny quilts. Liz, I don't know you at all, but the fact that you would take the time to make up this quilt for a little 2 year old you never knew, I just know you are a wonderful person. Thank goodness for people like you!

DAYDREAMS

This quilt is for a little girl named Willa, a girl not much younger than my own nearly-three-year-olds. I don’t actually know her. She lives in Pennsylvania, and her mother is a friend of a friend. This friend of mine pointed me to Willa’s mom’s blog. I read it and I cried and cried and cried. Willa is dying.

In addition to being born with a rare and serious medical condition, they then discovered a tumor. Cancer. Inoperable. I’m not sure she was even two years old at the time.

My heart broke into a million tiny pieces. I wanted so badly to do something to help, but what can I do? Aside from not being a doctor or a creator of miracles, I don’t even live anywhere close to them. I can’t make a batch of cookies or bring over a few nights’ worth of dinner.

But I can sew. I could make Willa a quilt. Is it a particularly practical gift? No, I suppose not. But I have a little girl. She likes to get surprises in the mail, she likes pretty things. All I can hope to do is to send a little smile via Express Mail.

Oh, and the latest blog entry says that the tumor is growing. They’ve stopped treatment and met with hospice. Willa is at home. That’s why I rushed to finish it as fast as I could. I thought there might be more time, but I was so very sadly wrong. So I finished it and sent it Express. Tracking says it arrived last week. I haven’t heard from Willa’s mom, yet. I have no idea if it made it there in time.

As for the practical details of the quilt:

It is my second time doing the Stacked Coins tutorial, which I cannot recommend highly enough. If you have a couple of charm packs lying around and want to make something beautiful and super fast, this is the ticket. It’s the perfect size for a baby/toddler quilt, about 40×50. The charm packs in this case were Moda Daydreams, which is a few years old but I found them last fall in Colorado and was waiting for just the right use.

Backing is Amy Butler Full Moon Dots in Camel and a blue tone-on-tone butterfly print from my stash, which the selvedge said was by Anna Griffin. Binding is Full Moon Dots in Lime. I quilted it in my favorite (and fast, though my machine was acting up and breaking thread a lot) loopy stipple, and the white pretty much disappears into the quilt.

Like I said, I have no idea if it made it there in time for Willa to see it or snuggle with it. I can only hope that it gave her, and her mom, a smile.

UPDATE, JULY 8

I got a beautiful thank you card in the mail from Willa’s mom. Not only did Willa get it and like it, “she hugs it and won’t let anyone take it away.”

UPDATE, JULY 9

Unfortunately, the post-script of the story is that, the day after I got the thank you note from Heather, Willa passed away on July 9, 2010. She was not quite 2 1/2. So sad. But I'm glad the quilt arrived and gave her a smile.

On a happier note, go check out Liz's site. This woman has some serious quilting inspiration! She is definitely one of those girls that makes you feel like you don't know how to manage time at all if she can crank out all she does. She has her own personal quilting factory with one employee! Seriously! Just looking all she completes makes me tired! Thanks Liz.

Such a sad story, but so glad that Liz was able to bring her a little bit of happiness in her last days. I'm sure the quilt will be forever cherished by the family. I'll be saying a pray for her, and her family left behind.

This is such a bittersweet story- the sweet part is knowing how much my son at the same age loved having his very own quilt, so I can imagine how much Willa will have enjoyed hers. It's a lovely thing for her mum and dad to have now, knowing that she loved it.